For two months after he was shot at,a 22-year-old man walked around with a bullet caught between his hip and thigh bones,before doctors at AIIMS Trauma Centre removed it last week.

Aligarh-based student Mohammad Irshad Rain said the bullet entered his body from the back and,ruptured his abdomen causing severe injuries. The doctors at the Aligarh hospital did at least two emergency surgeries on his abdomen to save his life,but they could not find the bullet at the site of injury,Rain said.

All the injuries were in my stomach,but they could not find the bullet there. They thought it had exited my body,and operated on my stomach for injuries, he said.

Rain said he had been shot on February 15,when he had come out for a tea break from his coaching class in Aligarh and was caught in a crossfire between two groups.

The bullet was noticed when Rain complained of pain near his hip almost a week after his surgeries at the Aligarh hospital. Whenever I tried sitting up there was a severe gnawing pain, he said. When his doctors did an X-ray of his lower body,they found that a bullet,about 7 mm in diameter,was stuck between two critical bones. Since there were no entry or exit wounds in his hip or thigh,doctors said,the bullet had travelled inside his body and was lodged in this critical position.

Doctors at AIIMS said multiple X-ray scans taken from different plains on his hip and leg bone last month,when he was brought to Delhi,showed that it was an extremely tricky case.

AIIMS Trauma Centre chief,Dr M C Misra,said,The positioing of the bullet was very unusual since it was stuck in the ball and socket joint between the hip and thigh bones. But we managed to remove it without damaging the bones or nerves of the joint,and the patient is recovering well.

Dr Vijay Sharma,consultant in orthopaedics at AIIMS Trauma Centre,who operated on Rain,said since the bullet had been lodged in this position for 5-6 weeks,there had also been some tissue formation around it,which further complicated the situation.

Dr Sharma said surgeons had to choose between two options  a relatively easier way of penetrating one of the two bones,which could,however,have damaged both,or navigate through to the bullet without touching the bones.

Admitting that at one point,doctors at AIIMS had also been worried that they would not be able to remove the bullet,Dr Sharma said,The site of the bullet was so tricky,we were worried we might do him more harm,by attempting to remove it. But while he was walking around with it,his bones were getting corroded.

Finally,after two weeks of planning,doctors used the latter way,and penetrated the abdomen where the previous surgeries had been performed. Today,though Rain is still to start walking,doctors say repeat CT scans performed after the surgery do not show any damage.

Rain,who is now fully conscious,says he had gone to several doctors before coming to AIIMS. I had given up all hope. But today,my pain is better and hopefully I will be able to walk soon.